it is possible to get a pizza delivered to 30 rock at this hour it appears it has occurred. >> have you tried? >> said it was possible, i haven't seen it yet. you can get it done, you're mark hall spring. what very learned? >> thankfully allison showed up, otherwise, people would have thought they were looking at a tease for "the usual suspects." look at us. >> allison -- >> which one of us is kaiser soze? hi hopes, with polls shifting in its favor, mitt romney looks to build on his momentum with another strong debate performance and president obama, he needs to try to win over both the audience in tonight's town hall and those voters will are kind of undecided or who thought they were going to stick with him that might be on the verge of breaking romney's way if he doesn't perform well tonight. one topic sure to come up is libya and secretary of state hillary clinton is giving the president some political cover by taking full responsibility for the security failures that

led to the death of u.s. diplomats in benghazi. just like old time, h ross perot the third name in the headlines on a presidential debate day. he is choosing sides and making news in a key battleground state when he does t good morning from new york city 21 days until election day, a few miles away from the debate site at hofstra in long island, tuesday, october 16, 2012 this is the daily run down, ima chuck todd. get right to my first reads to of the morning. a decisive victory for either candidate tonight could create momentum tough for the other to stop before election day. for mitt romney, another debate win might mean he could break the president's stranglehold on states like ohio and wisconsin, making the foote 270 electoral vote a lot more realistic. for the president, a win could reset the race before the first debate when it looked like the president was becoming the heavy favorite a new pew poll shows a split on who has the upper hand.

41% expect the president will win, 37% pick romney, a stark contrast from before the first debate. both candidates spent monday behind closed doors as they finished up debate prep with their wives instead weighing in. >> mitt's prepared. mitt's confident. mitt has a presence about him and he is running because he believes in america. >> does he look to you for encouragement? >> i can never tell, but i'm primed in case he is. i'm personed, i'm looking at him, smiling, i'm giving a thumb's up if he can see t. >> tonight's town hall format comes with risks and rewards. for the president, a chance to bolster the likability advantage he has had over mitt romney and make up for lost ground after his widely panned performance in the first debate. the bar for the president was higher than he faced john mccain the last town hall-style debate

in nashville four years ago. then, mccain had to change the course of a race going in obama's direction and his aggressiveness at the time came off as cranky. >> it was sponsored by crush busch and cheney, you know voted for it? might never know that one. >> the president had to prove he was presidential. and did he accomplish that at that debate. >> senator mccain in the last debate and today again suggested that i don't understand. it's true. there are some things i don't understand. i don't understand how we ended up invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 while osama bin laden and al qaeda are setting up base camps and safe havens to train terrorists to attack us. >> well, now it's the president who has to reverse momentum that is in romney's favor. he has the difficult job of being both aggressive and empathet empathetic. the president has to worry about questions like this one, from a town hall back in 2010, that could become a romney tv ad if

it happened tonight. >> i'm one of your middle class americans. and quite frankly, i'm exhausted. i'm exhausted of defending you, defending your administration you defending the mantle of change that i voted for and deeply disappointed with where we are right now. >> instead of answering that question directly, the president talked around it for four minutes at the time, he has to avoid being too professor y'all tonight. for romney who has done more town halls than the president this year, tonight is his chance to clear his biggs hurled, convincing voters he can relate to average americans. town hall settings have not always shown romney as enthreat threatic. this moment in ohio back in march has become an attack line for the other side. >> i'm a senior in high school this year, going to go to

college. this it is not cheap. i want to know what you are going to do with college tuition? >> you want to shop around. you don't want to have huge debts. i knee it would be popular for me to stand up and say i'm going to give you government money to make sure to pay for your college, i'm not going to promise that what i will tell you is shop around, get a good price. >> bad off-the-cuff moments like june 2011 in this visit to a tampa coffee shop, he attempted this bad joke while talking to unemployed voters. >> should also tell my story, i'm also unemployed. >> it worked there didn't work for the public. taking questions from a new hampshire crowd in january, romney argued his health care plan would argue competition among insurance providers, then he said this. >> i like being able to fire people athat provide services t me. if someone doesn't give me the good service i need, i want to say i'm going to get somebody else to provide that service to me. >> in his best moments, romney

has been able to break through the stereotype that he is privileged and out of touch n april, when a voter challenged him on his mormon faith, he talked about a decade serving as a pastor in his church. >> that gave met o the occasion work with people on a very personal basis dealing with unemployment, with marital difficulties with health difficulties of their own or with their kids. most americans, by the way, are carrying a burden of some kind. we don't see it. we see some of the street, they smile and say hem lllo, but beh them, they are carrying a bag of rocks. >> here is what to expect. the 90 minutes will be mod rated by cnn's candy crowly, pick the questions being submitted by 80 undecided voters, nassau county, collect selected by the gallup organization. romney will take the first kwaend the president gets the second. each candidate gets two minutes to respond followed by what the debate commission calls a

facilitated discussion. look, that's code for follow-up but a word that spooks the campaign so the debate commission left the actual word follow-up out. no closing statement. up to hall debate format always guaranteed surprise. this morning, one of the candidates who par faced in the first-ever town hall debate for a general election for the presidency back in 1992, he provided one today. ross perot endorsed romney and the des moines register, writing, our country faces a momentous choice. the fact is the united states is on an unsustainable course. at stake is nothing less than our position in the world. our standard of living at home and our constitutional freedoms. that is why i'm endorsing mitt romney for president. look, don't ignore this endorsement. ross perot is associated with one issue, the deficit. three states is where this -- where the deficit issue animates the most, virginia, colorado, iowa. iowa has the oldest population, therefore, the longest memory of per row. you sort of can connect the dots there. only a few other endorsements that carry credibility like per rose, colin powell, michael

bloomberg, joe lieberman, those types of folks. one to watch. don't ignore it. finally through a debate that will tackle foreign and domestic issues you can the security lapses is sure to come up and libia. traveling in peru, secretary of state hillary clinton did a series of issues and claimed full responsibility for bengh i benghazi. >> i am in charge of the state department, 60,000-plus people all over the world, 275 post. the president and the vice president certainly wouldn't be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals. >> clinton also acknowledged the state department was aware of security concerns ahead of the attack. >> we have long known that extremists have come out of libya. we long understood there would be an effort to establish

extremist bases and operations. something we were very focused on. >> asked by nbc news if the benghazi attack was the result of an intelligence failure, she wanted to take politics out of the equation. >> i think what we want to do is get to the bottom of what happened. >> clinton's remarks drew a quick response from john mccain, lindsey graham and kelly ayotte, wrote in a statement -- this is ayotte replacing senator lieberman as the three amigos. it is clear, senator lieberman decided to take a step away. clinton weighed in on the stakes for her boss in tonight's debate. >> i think he'll do fine. i think he just has to get out

there and talk about what he's done for the country and wants to do the next four years. >> tonight's debate has the chance to put space for the candidates, both men face challenge, show passion without being aggressive, sell their vision for the country, you know, and actually win this election. this morning, i spoke to new york's democratic senator, chuck schumer, about the debate taking place tonight in his home state. how important is it for president obama? >> i think it's fright important for the president but i have a lot of confidence in him. i think, you know, he knows it wasn't his best performance last time and he is a fight, he's win. and you know, he has -- sort of an easy case to make and that is that the real mitt romney is this and in the debate they try hide who the real mitt romney is. it's easily punctured. >> do you think there was something the president held himself back, everybody has a theory, why wasn't president more aggressive? >> obviously, it wasn't his best

game. who knows y one thing you know barack obama, he's win, analyzing what did he wrong and make sure he does it right this time. i have a lot of confidence, i'm looking forward to this debate very positively. >> what topics do you think have to come up if president obama wants to walk away from this debate as a winner? what is it that he has to >> can he has to show that mitt romney is hiding hot real mitt romney s the debate mitt romney is one of these plastic things you hold up, face masks and not the real mitt romney. what's your view on choice, mir. on the one hand, on the debate, you said, right after the debate, you said you're no not doing anything about roe v wade and your campaign is repeal it. what is your view? reducing taxes by $5 trillion on the wealth? he can't get away with it when it comes to direct questions what happened did last week is basically hide who he was. he was unchallenged. he won't be unchallenged.

>> when i asked you what issues, the first issue you go to is abortion. you believe that was a missed opportunity in the last debate? >> there were many. the economy is the number one issue, make no mistake about it but mitt romney hiding who he is was most glaring on abortion. it happened a couple days after the debate. >> one of the things bound to come one tax reforge the debt, the deficit. you state a different ground here than the president. >> than the president? >> the president seems to have hinted that boles simpson at least should be a guideline that he supports sort of. you seem to say, no, no, no, no, no. we cannot use boles-simpson as the guideline. >> boles-simpson did some -- three very good things. first, the $4 trillion is the right number, the number we should aspire to in terms of cutting. second, it brought together democrats and republicans and third, it was balanced. it was a mixture of revenues and spending cuts. all that's very good and they

deserve credit them made one big mistake. they used old-fashioned tax reform. they said the first thing they did on the revenue side is not find revenues but lower taxes on the wealthiest people. can youant do it. the math doesn't add up. if you want to do -- you can do two of three things, if the three things are deficit reduction of $4 trillion. getting -- keeping the middle class solid, not cutting -- not raising their taxes at all and cutting tax on the wealthy, one of those has to go. boles-simpson made a mistake -- >> got more revenue out of t cut tax rates. >> they said they did. >> you don't believe they did? >> i still haven't seen the details. they said we will cut the rate and then we will make up for it with tax expenditures, getting rid of -- >> >> which is what mitt romney argues. >> just fine except if you have

to detail the tax expand dhours make up the kind of tax cuts they are talk about you had read is to go into things like middle class, mortgage deduction, charitable deduction, state and local. these are tax expenditures but no one thinks they are loopholes. they were done for good policy reasons. >> you don't think the president should stake out boles-simpson as a. >> the president said very nice things about the little talk i gave and the president has said he is not going to support anything that is the top ray. he agrees with me. >> want to raise the top rate? >> no -- the more revenues you get from the high end by not lowering and even going back to the clinton, the less in terms of tax expenditures you need dom one and the more revenues you have. when people say look, we will make it up, closing loopholes, easy to say, that's what

everyone has said that's what romney has said what ryan has said. unfortunately, that's what boles simpson said you the idea a little more. when you start delineating how to do it. >> saying it is politically impossible? >> not just politically impossible it is substantively impossible, mathematically impossible, unless you cut middle class expenditures on sort of things that we believe in, charitable, state, local, health care, retirement. >> politically impossible. >> i would like to see a real deficit reduction plan is open people's tight 800-pound elephant in the room. how can you -- if your first goal is deficit reduction, your first go can't be lowering taxes on the highest income people. >> very quickly, the united states senate, give me your range of where you think the net gain or loss of democratic -- >> i think we will be about where we are now. >> you think a net zero? >> under/over 53. we are doing really well in a lot of republican states.

ten republican seats up, we have a reasonable chance of wing. >> of these republican seats what is the one you actually think you're going to win? >> i think we are going to win more than one. there's no guarantees anywhere. we are doing well in five, which are we are ahead in the polls in five, which are maine, massachusetts, indiana, nevada, arizona. we win two or three of those, i don't think we will lose more than two or three democratic seats, probably less. >> all right, senator schumer, democratic senator, your home state, see you tonight in hofstra. >> see you there. >> all righty a net zero, he predicts. romney supporter and utah congressman jason chaffetz joins me here in new york. i think you guys know what these guys are up to today. pretty big debate tonight.

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we are less than 1 hours away from the second debate. mosth both candidates are feeling the pressure, feels like the make or break moments, the campaign sitting on a knife's edge. joining me, utah congressman jason cha jason chafe -- jason chaffetz. >> i think is going to be a fascinating rates. >> what are some issues that you

think mitt romney didn't bring up that he should and what are some issues you are concern brkd if that is a big party of the of t >> i take responsibility, i am nee charge of the state department, 60,000-plus people all over the world, 275 posts. the president and the vice

preside president. they are the ones who weigh all of the threats and the risks and the needs and make a considered decision. >> we got four dead americans. which haven't lost an ambassador overseas since the 1970s. i appreciate secretary clinton being the first to take at least a little bit of personal responsibility but i have a problem with her saying that the security professionals made the decisions. we heard testimony last week from the rs. >> on the regional security officer, who was there on the ground that they did not make those decisions based on security. security didn't dictate security. they asked for more security. not only did they not get it they reduced the security. >> a kwoent second round, the first time they asked for security, they got it and they got an extension. the second time, not clear he made the q he wanted to make the request. there is dispute on this story. >> if you look at the actual

numbers, remember 230 security issues going into. this the british ambassador, an assassination attempt, the bombing of the red cross, it's libya, coming up on 9/11 and we got a couple people there, doesn't make sense. >> ambassador steven's father and glen doherty's mother say the same thing. the security matters are being adequately investigated, . in october, anything reeks of politics. any regrets made it too far and turned it too much in a political i shall owned not taken seriously? >> nobody's political playbook on 9/11 to have the death and the murder of these four americans. they were good americans, serving their country. the reality is we have hundreds of embassy and consulates, we have thousands of people serving overseas what would be wrong is if a person like me, i chaired the sub committee on the

national security, homeland defense and operations. >> congress wasn't in session and doesn't seem like a show hearing. >> if i said we got an election here, we can't dive into this, we got people that are dead. you have an administration that did not come clean on response to this they budge approximatelied their answer. >> this is not the easiest thing, fog of war is fog of war. >> remember in the hearing, the person, charlene lamb testified, she said that they were witnessing this virtually in realtime and that literally, weeks later, people saying we didn't know, it was the fog. >> i assume i will see you in hofstra in the spin room. >> i may be in the neighborhood. yes. >> thanks for coming in. a big change at the top at citigroup.

market run down is next, shaking things up on wall street. plus, a deep dive into the town hall time capsule, the hits and the misses and why audience participation changes everything. but. but first, today's trivia question -- ♪

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mitt romney is expected to arrive in long island this hour. if he wins tonight, he might be able to break president's stranglehold on ohio, wisconsin and iowa, making a path to 270 a lot more realistic. peter alexander is live at hofstra already in hempstead, new york, not far from where the

new york islanders play. mr. alexander, how nervous are the romney folks? were's their spin you heard robert gibbs on "morning joe" say the president is going to be incredibly strong tonight, not just strong. so a much different spinning -- spin operation from team obama. what does team romney say? >> save the conversation about the nassau coliseum for another time. safe to say the place is decrep decrepid. in moments like this the romney campaign says this is when he steps up. it is that stereotype naermd, particularly in states like ohio, he was out of touch, a corporate raider, that he was a rich guy. the language has now changed they believe, after the first debate, people now find him to be at least more acceptable as an alternative and affable, a lot of women are increasingly leaning toward mitt romney right now. america crossroads going up with $11 million in ads in battle ground states to try to

reinforce that narrative. one thing to keep an eye on that i have heard from several advisers this is as much about stagecraft as substance, what they were doing behind the scenes. among the questions romney was sort of discussing with his advisers was one of the questions asked, do you look at the camera, do you look at the president, do you look at the questioner, where do you look? that someone of the things to keep an eye on, the body language, like mitt romney described as awkward sometimes. >> i have been stunned, frankly, how open they have been about this with you and others on the stagecraft aspect to this they really think they have no substance issues, they are just worried about stagecraft? >> they feel like they handled the substance issues in the first one, got their message out, that americans feel so much more comfortable with them. in essence, doing the same thing as last time, trying to lower expectations, say, this shut president, guy smooth working the room, we are not as good at that, we will do our best. i think by doing that they think they can create a better opportunity four people to advance tonight.

>> decrepid, i guess you are not going to be welcome at the nassau coliseum. >> you have seen t. >> you are locked out just like the rest of nhl fans are. peter, thank you much. see you in a few hours. turning to wall street, a change at the top of citigroup. how will the markets handle this? time for the market run down. cnbc's becky quick. okay. this came sort of out of nowhere, after yesterday, they had the big nice earnings report, shot the market up. what happened? >> that's what has everybody scratching their heads this morning. this is a bombshell when it comes to news for wall street, chuck. this morning, the news came about 8:00 that ving cram pck c pandit, the ceo of city groups, led them through the financial times, the worst positioned bank as all the banks, vick cram pandit is stepping down as ceo but also his board position immediately. also, his number two in command, president and chief operating officer also stepping down.

still trying to figure out if there's another shoe to drop, why the stock is down 3%. >> very interesting. everybody smells something around the corner. becky quick, thank you much. next, the deep dive into the most memorable moments in 20 years of presidential town halls. this is really only 20 years old, or, oh, my god, it's 20 years old. how do you say 20 years these days daily run down will be back in 30 seconds.

on our radar this morning, cot race be turning in a place like pennsylvania? senate fights get nasty across the country. get to t in arizona, richard carmona and jeff flake traded real blows over the tv ads last week, reacting to a flake ad in which carmona's old boss accuses him of having anger shall use and issues with women. carmona fired back at flake. >> congressman flake, in his desperation, because his campaign is failing, my numbers come up, felt he had to do something to discredit me no merit to any of there, i would urge the public, take a look at the record in the press and elsewhere over a decade period and you will find out who this lady really is. >> this notion that somehow you can discredit her and it all goes away, you can't. this is part, like you said, other allegations before this isn't an isolated incident. >> ohio and connecticut were also in the spotlight last night the first debate in ohio relatively tame compared to the one in connecticut where

congressman chris murphy seemed to have as much trouble with the crowd he's did with his opponent, linda mcmahon. >> we need it quiet in the theater. come on, guys. >> you guys will make the wwe raw jokes. i won't. this is one of the most contentious races in the country and showed last night both candidates launched personal attacks, one woman interrupted, murphy's telling him to shut up. oy. back to the presidential ray the latest quinnipiac poll in pennsylvania shows president obama leading mitt romney but only by four points, 50-46 that poll had the president up 12 last month. new jersey, the president leads 51-43, similar to september's numbers. one thing i have noticed here, by the way, you are seeing some shifts in places the president is going to carry these states more than likely, barring something catastrophic for his camp campaign but if you noticed consolidation among republican leaders to romney, does explain some of the bigger bumps we have seen in national polls, smaller bumps in the battlegrounds.

ing to keep in mind. finally, some sad news to report today, 1972 democrat presidential nominee, long-time south dakota senator george mcgovern has been admitted to a hospice in sioux falls. his daughter says the 90-year-old is coming to the end of his life. well, it may seem time-honored these days but realize the televised town hall is younger than lindsay lohan? tonight will be the sixth of its kind. we look at the highs and lows of the first five. may not surprise to discover you the idea was hatched in 1992 by bill clinton who thrived in town hall meetings on the campaign tray. the incumbent president, george h. w. bush, was initially against it and the results showed he had good reason to be nervous. check out president bush and bill clinton answering the exact same question, provides a clear example of the right waned the wrong way to handle it. first thing to remember, don't check your watch while the question is being asked. >> how has the national debt

personally affected each of your lives? >> if the question -- if -- maybe i will get it wrong, are you suggesting that if somebody has means that the national debt doesn't affect them? >> well, what i'm saying -- >> not sure i get t help me with the question, i will try to answer it. >> you know people who have lost their jobs and lost their homes? >> uh-huh. >> well, i have been governor of a small state for 12 years. i will tell you how to has affected me. in my state, when people lose their jobs there's a good chance i will know them by their names. when a factory closes, i know the people who ran t when the business goes brurngts i know them. >> four years later, bob dole tried to slam president clinton for ethical lapses, hammering him on the character issue. but instead of fighting back directly, clinton refused to take the bait, eliminating any chance for fireworks at the town hall setting. >> there's no doubt about it that many american people have lost their faith in government. they see scan dams almost on a daily basis. they see ethical problems in the white house today. >> could i answer a lot of these

things tat for tat, but i hope we can talk about what we are going to do in the future. no attack ever created a job or educated a child or helped a family make ends meet. >> the luxury of being ahead at your town hall and being the incumbent. in 2000, it was vice president gore's body lang than got him in trouble when he famously invaded george w. bush's personal space, a moment that highlighted, or lowlighted, maybe gore's awkwardness. >> not only what's your philosophy and your position on issues but can you get things done? and i believe i can. >> rob portman, by the way, played gore in those debates and rob portman did that during the practice session. he noticed that little tell of gore's during previous debates. of course, these kinds of debates can also give candidates an opportunity to try to address their weaknesses with voters n 2004, the challenge for john kerry was to count earth republican attack line that he was a flip-flopper, that kept

changing his positions. he got that chance with the very first question but president bush was ready to pound him on the issue anyway. >> i asked the ones who said they were not voting for you why. they said that you were too w h wishy washy. do you have any response to that? >> the president didn't find weapons of mass destruction in he iraq, so he has really turned his campaign into a weapon of mass deception and the the result is that you have been bombarded with advertisement suggesting that i've changed a position on this or that or the other o. >> i can see why people at your workplace think he changes positions a lot, 'cause he does. tonight, president obama's biggest challenge seems to be to show fire and aggressiveness, as you show president bush there, that his supporters come to expect, but without crossing whatever this line is that people expect at a town hall on how aggressive you can get. the 2008 town hall, he showed he could throw a punch as he did when he challenged -- when he was challenged over his lack of

experience. >> senator mccain suggests that somehow, you know, i'm green behind the ears and i just spougt off and he's somber and responsible. >> thank you very much. >> senator mccain this is the guy who sang "bomb iran," who called for the annihilation of north core reyeah that, i don't think, is an example of speaking softly. >> i hope this reminds you, by the way, there is interesting ex-chances in the town hall format. somehow we think you can't be aggressive in a town hall format. we showed you examples where candidates did try to do and successful at t there will be some format differences between tonight's town hall-style debate and the first one 20 years ago, many of the issues are likely to repaint same you can the economy, taxes, health care and deficit. carol simpson moderated that debate in 1992. currently teaches journalism at emerson college and joins me

from boston. nice to see you this morning. >> i have enjoyed the walk down memory lane. >> that was something else. i remember the first-ever town hool hamm and i know the clinton folks that really pushed this the commission on presidential debates grabbed onit. just walk me through where the campaigns are today. some people were highly skeptical at the time before it happened. what were your concerns going into that debate? >> well, when i was called and told that i would within moderator of this debate, i only had five days to prepare, they found out in august, i had five days to prepare. one of my biggest concerns is i had no tapes to look at to find out how you do this. there was no precedent. so, i was going to have to do this on my own.

one of the things that from time to timed met most was undecided voters in richmond, virginia, might be afraid to ask their questions. they might freeze in front of all the cameras and so on. so i prepared, i studied for five days, i knew every candidates' position every issue backward and forward and i had three candidates. i had perot and clint unaon and bush. and it was a lot of preparation. and i was terrified. this was the pinnacle of my career, but i was terrified before that debate. it's like what could happen? anything could happen. and it's the what ifs that make you crazy. >> when you were dealing with the voters in the room, i know i talked to tom brokaw about this who mod rated the town hall four years ago, how did you sort of assess which folks were, frankly, not going to get stage fright? >> well, because -- let me tell

you that i had no control whatsoever over who scad question. >> different from this time. candy crowley does have that control. >> yes, she can pick the questions and she can ask them in the order. i literally was being told in my ifb by the producer, go to the right and talk to the man in the brown suit with the green tie. okay, carol. now walk to the other side and get lady in the blue dress with the pearls. so i had no control at all over who was going to ask a question, nor did i have any idea what they would come out with. so the uncertainty of that is -- was kind of daunting. but it turned out to be a fabulous debate and i'm so in favor of participatory democracy. there election is about the american people.

they should get the chance to ask the questions. >> you had an opportunity to do follow-ups, you felt you did and also in some cases sometimes rephrased a question or threw a question and i remember specifically a couple of them. obviously you can the campaigns tonight are trying to -- they have released their memo of understanding, the agreement the two of them came together with, obama and romney saying this this moderator should not rephrase the question and there are no follow-ups to it. what do you say to this memo and what would be your advice to candy crowley? >> the political parties, the republicans and democrats runt commission on presidential debates and they have so much power over everything, all the guidelines, all the rules, the time lengths and so on the camera angles. so they have a lot of power, the question is, as journalists, do we follow what the political

parties tell us do or do we have a greater obligation to the public and the public interest? so the question about whether candy will follow-up, i hope she does. i hope she even gets to sneak in her own questions. >> think the two campaigns guarantee it had by releasing that memo. they only seem to almost challenge her to do that, would seem like a mistake there carrocar. carole simpson. >> they got to her. okay. >> appreciate it. >> thank you. next up, our political panel's take what to watch for and expect tonight. first, of course, the white house soup of the day. do you like cheese? do you like cheese in your soup? do you like swiss chard and feta? that's what we got today. all we're missing is the beer to go with the beer and cheese and -- that's lot of cheese in that soup. i think we ought to call it fromage. be right back. [ man ] december 7th.

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apply online or at a bank of america near you. fromage. now we are going to say we are about 11 hours from tonight's main eenter have, round two in the debates and the war of words will be more heated tonight. joining me now, our political panel. how big is this debate? >> it is huge and the next 36 hours will be the most important, pivotal moment in this entire campaign. >> i'm with you on that one. i completely agree. >> essentially, if the president is strong and either wins -- so-called wins the debate or even has a draw, where both sides say their guy won, i think he will go on to consolidate his support in the battleground states.

>> then it's a grinder. then it's grinded out. >> probably wins this election. if he loses the debate, even his own people, like the last time, think he lost, he will have a hard time winning this election. >> beth phooey, talking to pollsters on both sides, what was interesting about the last debate, suburban women have been a rock some lid demographic part of the president's coalition. they are not with him on the ballot test of but a more favorable view, like him more today on the economy than a week ago that seems to be the last hurdle for mitt romney. >> a lot of suburban women in long island where this debate will take place and where the gallup organization pulled together the group of undecided voters in the audience people complained there was no mention of women's issues, are they economy, jobs, as the republicans argue or social issues like abortion rights and

birth control? it came up in the vice presidential debate but not in the presidential debate. this is a chance for both those candidates to answer some of those questions and i would imagine that can day and the folks in the undecided voter group are going to ask them. >> you know, erroll, i asked senator schumer in the show, what are the issues this didn't come up you want to come up, the first issue he stock exchange. >> . because you have a woman moderator, there's less of a chance that it will fall off the table the way it did in that first debate. >> aggressivenesses, what do you expect? going back through the trip down memory lane, these town halls have pointed moments. we think they didn't because you can't in that room, but it actually is not true. >> the problem for the president

is to not overcompensate. >> don't overcorrect, right. >> that's what happened to al gore. so he overxenl statay thcompens second debate. >> he never read the three bears. >> the president is more skillful, so he can probably calibrate this properly. one of his challenges will be to pivot, to go from answering the questioner's question to then pivoting -- >> so what he wants to do. mitt romney, what's his challenge? >> his chat challenge is not to look awkward. romney is quite awkward with talking to regular folks. he has to so he that he can speak to them and not con descend. >> trivia, we asked how many televised will not election

presidential debates have been held in new york? the answer is three. nearly 40 years ago to the day, nixon and kennedy debated one another in new york city, 1960. but this us was twas the tricky. kennedy was new york, nixon and panel of questioners were in los angeles during the third debate. today we would say that was awkward. [ female announcer ] ready for a taste of what's hot? check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine. creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic.

begins with back pain and a choice. take advil, and maybe have to take up to four in a day. or take aleve, which can relieve pain all day with just two pills. good eye.

let's bring back the panel. ross perot. you know, it is interesting, john tha jonathan, to watch the romney campaign. ross perot and the deficit is synonymous. but they seem to be billionaire endorsing -- rich guy endorsing rich by. but it shouldn't be an ignored endorsement.

>> i think it's a net plus. not a significant net plus, but it helps romney. 20 years ago, 19% voted for ross perot. a the lot of those folks are still voting. >> and they did it in iowa. after florida, which is not a deficit, sort of sensitive state, iowa is a lot of orderer voters. memories of ross perot. >> and a place where the obama campaign has to be concerned. mitt romney after showing no activity came in and basically just about snuck in a primary. campaigned under the radar. >> shameless plug. >> my father, executive producer of the 1992 town hall meeting. >> and it was a great event in television history. >> bloomberg story where they interviewed the father of the late ambassador chris stevens. >> we talked about it today. >> do not politicize. that's an important message going into this debate. romney has to be careful not to politicize it too much. >> 7:00 p.m. tomorrow, there will be a debate between

gillibrand and long. i'll be moderating and carried on c-span. >> october in an election year on c-span is senate debate heaven. i love it. that's it for today's edition. tomorrow full debate analysis. coming up next, chris jansing. this is your business travel forecast. a nice quiet day ga. very mild, too. 70 and 80 degrees. even up in minneapolis, it's 70 degrees. east coast will be a little breezy as the cold front cleared out, but it will be a dry with plenty of sunshine. next couple of days, enjoy the warmth while it lasts. ♪

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